I'm trying to activate xsi foundation 5 on a new machine running windows 7 x64. When I start the program I get this panel

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When I hit the "Request key" it opens up IE to the softimage page which has nothing to do with activation. So I tried emailing SoftImage.Licensing@autodesk.com and they replied with this:
Greetings, Thank you for your email. Please note that this alias is used solely to process license requests for Softimage XSI, version7.0 and prior.

If you are a RESELLER, and require information on the Softimage customer base, please contact your Partner Manager.

If you are a software USER, and require information regarding the current version of Softimage, please contact your reseller.

If you are requesting a license for Softimage XSI, version7.0 and prior, we will respond to your email shortly. Please allow up to a 24 hour delay before receiving a response. If you havenít done so already, please provide the information requested below by responding back to this email.

1. Issue Type. Please choose the issue type that most accurately reflects your situation. If none of the below options describe your situation, please chose 'Other' and then provide a more detailed explanation in the Additional Comments field.

[ ] My system failed and I needed to reinstall the OS. Now my Host ID has changed and my license no longer works. I need a license for the attached request code. *

[ ] My system is being decommissioned. I need to transfer my license to the attached request code.

[ ] My dongle is broken. I need a new dongle and my license transferred to it. In the meantime, I would like a temporary license assigned to the attached request code.

I tried to fill out as much as possible but Foundation 5 didn't even install a license manager so couldn't generate a request code. After I sent the information, they just replied with the exact same email. Anyone else have this much trouble trying to get an older version of xsi activated? I'm starting to get the impression they just want me to give up and purchase the latest version. Any insight or help would be appreciated as I'm currently running it in evaluation mode.

When AD bought Softimage they did not respect the concept of a "permanent license" for the former Softimage customers.
They discontinued the license server for "historic licenses" august last year - which also impacted my licensed version of XSI 7.01 Essential - $$$ down the drain...

We're talking "historical" in the sense that they discontinued activation of licenses for products less than 3 years old... (necessary whenever one changes a PC for example)

That makes me like autodesk even less if that's possible. I've never been a fan of their business practices but this really sets a new low and just reinforces my increasingly cynical belief that the bad guys really do win in the end. I'm really surprised this is legal as my very limited understanding of the law leads me to believe that autodesk should be required to uphold whatever contractual obligations held by avid. This makes me wonder if at any point autodesk or any other software company can simply decide to deactivate software and start charging a monthly activation fee or do whatever else they want since no doubt they have a clause in the eula that they can make changes to it at any time. Sorry about the porn coming up. I'm using imagevenue and I have it set to family friendly. When I tried clicking on the image, nothing inappropriate came up. Thanks for the replies everyone.

As you know, nobody comes to your house and brakes the software; you're trying to transfer a node-locked license to a new PC.

XSI Foundation was like that, non-transferable, licenced to one system. That's one of the limitation you get for 500$ as opposed to having the 3000$ XSI that is tied to a USB hardware dongle instead. AFAIK the fact that support (after the automated system went down, if I recall) would help transfer that to a new system is not part of any agreement, it's just about avoiding alienating users, but also make it hard enough that people won't activate Foundation on multiple machines.

Avid/Softimage has part the blame here, because any system that relies on communicating to a specific web page on a specific server to activate is bound to fail eventually. Is it 6 years, 10 years? Servers, OSes, stuff changes in time. There are a lot of consumer software that only require you to enter a serial number and you're done, no need to phone home and ask for permission. There are alternatives.

What you got through all the years is a lot out usage of that 500$. The product was kind of meant to be disposable. XSI 5.11 is not compatible with Vista and Windows 7; glitches (like message box buttons not working) and crashes abound. It's an awesome version, rich and stable, but as non-trivial high tech app it's kind of frozen in time in 2005 Windows XP land.

Partly right. They did the same thing for the XSI 7 Essentials/Advanced as they did with 5.11 Foundation.

There was no dongle requirement and no restrictions with respect to moving the XSI 7 Essential software between machines. (As long as only one machine had the software activated -> this was verified at each start of the software.) Actually Softimage also had a new feature called the "Panic button" with this release that would enable XSI to continue working while licensing problems were sorted (ref: http://www.awn.com/articles/review/...ip-ice/page/4,1 ) (But again relying on a Softimage web page).

Hence I view AD's actions as both consumer unfriendly and downright hostile to former Softimage customers.

luceric - I never claimed anyone came to my house and broke my software. My unhappiness stems from the fact that software I paid for no longer works because autodesk is no longer providing activation for it.

"XSI Foundation was like that, non-transferable, licenced to one system. That's one of the limitation you get for 500$ as opposed to having the 3000$ XSI that is tied to a USB hardware dongle instead."

This argument doesn't hold. In addition to what runejw has already said, autodesk's decision also affects people who have to reinstall windows or any other os. Would you consider that a different system? I on average wipe my hard drive and do a fresh install of windows every 2 years in order to get a clean and optimized os. Sometimes people get unrecoverable malware and have no choice but to do a clean install. As per your attempt to differentiate between a $500 and $3000 software, I fail to understand why that should make a difference. Suppose foundation cost $3000 and advanced cost $10000. You could still make the same argument that because foundation cost less that it's somehow ok for autodesk to do what they did. In any case $500 isn't exactly pocket change and if autodesk feels it is, than I'm happy to ship my copy back for a refund.

"What you got through all the years is a lot out usage of that 500$. The product was kind of meant to be disposable. XSI 5.11 is not compatible with Vista and Windows 7; glitches (like message box buttons not working) and crashes abound. It's an awesome version, rich and stable, but as non-trivial high tech app it's kind of frozen in time in 2005 Windows XP land."

I never considered foundation to be disposable. It seemed to me like avid had different versions with different features to appeal to particular market niches. Companies do this all the time. Intel for example has a variety of cpu's that can cost anywhere from several thousand dollars to under $100. I'm also fine with the glitches stemming from running xsi under windows 7 and don't expect autodesk to issue any fixes.

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